'We can rule out even small increases in the expression of prejudice'

Tiger Woods receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Donald Trump on May 6, 2019 (Official White House photo)

A study by the University of Pennsylvania contradicts the establishment-media narrative that racism in America has increased since the election of Donald Trump in 2016.

In fact, the panel survey, which tracked people over a 10-year period, found there has been a decline in white racial prejudice against African Americans and Hispanic Americans since Trump’s election, Campus Reform reported.

“We find that via most measures, white Americans’ expressed anti-Black and anti-Hispanic prejudice declined after the 2016 campaign and election,” they wrote.

Hopkins, in an article for FiveThirtyEight, explained the study used 13 waves of panel surveys to gather data.

He noted a fall in prejudice was present for both Democrats and Republicans.

The study states that in Trump’s campaign and first few years in office, he “consistently defied contemporary norms by using explicit, negative rhetoric targeting ethnic/racial minorities.”

But Hopkins found the president’s rhetoric, though he termed it “racist,” did not result in an increase in racist attitudes among Americans.

“We find that via most measures, white Americans’ expressed anti-Black and anti-Hispanic prejudice declined after the 2016 campaign and election, and we can rule out even small increases in the expression of prejudice,” the study’s abstract states.

‘That’s not America today’

Campus Reform noted the study contradicts ongoing public perception. A 2018 Quinnipiac University poll, for example, found that 55 percent of survey respondents believed “President Trump has emboldened people who hold racist beliefs.”

But Campus Reform spoke with a Mexican-American who recently studied at the University of Illinois, Joel Valdez, who pointed out that Latino approval of Trump has skyrocketed to 50 percent.

Latinos and African-Americans “are prospering under the Trump administration,” he said, with the lowest unemployment rates ever for each demographic.

Yet, as a Latino, said Valdez, who is also an intern at Campus Reform’s Leadership Institute, he’s told to “expect rampant racism.”

“But that’s not America today or one I’ve experienced, especially under President Trump,” he said.